1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to the field of video conferencing, and more particularly to the field of automated call management in a distributed video conferencing environment.
2. Description of Related Art
Video conferencing systems are being used in a wide variety of settings to enable effective communication among participants (and audiences) at different geographical sites. Each video conferencing location includes a video camera, a display, a microphone, and a speaker. Each video conferencing location may also be equipped for data collaboration such as file sharing, a collaborative white board, and the like. In general, the content making up a video conference, including audio, video, and data, is directed through one or more multi-point conference units (“MCU's”) that aggregate media streams from the various participants, and that mix and distribute appropriate streams to the participants and the audience. The system may employ one or more gateways to permit conferences that join participants across data networks and telecommunications networks.
Video conferencing terminals and MCU's do not advertise information concerning the identity or capabilities of video conferencing stations connected thereto. Thus, existing video conferencing systems require a network operating center (“NOC”) at which a human operator sets up and launches calls. The operator at the network operating center performs administrative tasks such as locating an MCU with sufficient switching capacity to handle a conference call, ensuring compatibility between audio and video codecs, and ensuring that the location of each participant is known by either Internet Protocol (“IP”) address for data networks, or by telephone number for telecommunications networks. These administrative functions are performed manually using information gathered from participants and MCU's.
There remains a need for automatic call management system for video conferencing that permits users to create and administer video conferencing calls without the centralized control of a network operating center.